Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 257: Luozhou Governor Qiu Xinggong (Part )
The earth is vast and covered with silver.

Early in the morning, Li Chengqian left the post station after having breakfast.

As soon as I reached the entrance of the post station, a dozen tall horses came quickly from the opposite side.

Chang Sun Xiang on the side waved his hand slightly, and the guards around him were already quietly on alert.

A middle-aged official in a green robe and with a stern expression saw Li Chengqian at the door and suddenly raised his left arm. The next moment, all the tall horses stopped at the same time.

Immediately, the middle-aged official quickly dismounted and walked quickly to Li Chengqian. He then bowed earnestly and said, "Your Majesty, I, Wu Yuanshuang, the military officer of the Anzhou Revenue Department, come to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian looked at Wu Yuanshuang. Just from his facial features, he knew that this person was not someone who was easy to get along with.

But that's all. Wu Yuanshuang didn't do anything inappropriate in his official duties. In fact, he did a lot of things very well.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be promoted from a ninth-rank official through family connections to his current sixth-rank position in just a few years.

After all, he was just the second son of Wu Shigui.

On the contrary, his elder brother Wu Yuanqing, although he inherited the title of Duke of Ying, was only a fifth-rank Shangyi Fengyu.

"No need to be polite." Li Chengqian looked at Wu Yuanshuang and asked calmly, "Why are you in Luoyang now?"

"Your Highness, I have been ordered to escort a batch of grain to Luoyang." Wu Yuanshuang glanced at the post station, then bowed and said, "My sister did not return last night, so I came here today to look for her."

"Oh, I see." Li Chengqian nodded and looked at Wu Yuanshuang deeply.

The brothers Wu Yuanshuang and Wu Yuanqing had an average relationship with the sisters Wu Shun and Wu Mei, because their mother was a second wife. What's more important was that the marriage was not initiated by the Wu family, but was decided by the Yang family to marry Yang to Wu Shigui.

During the Sui Dynasty, Wu Shigui once offended Yang Su, and it was Yang Xiong who saved him. So when the Yang family later married their daughter to him as a second wife, although he was hesitant, he finally agreed.

These things were a little difficult to accept for the Wu brothers, who had just lost their mother.

Naturally, it won’t be very nice to Yang.

Wu Shigui died in the ninth year of Zhenguan, and they immediately separated from the Yang family. In the end, the Yang family left the Wu family with a large amount of wealth.

Of course, we won’t treat them harshly.

Yang was born in the Hongnong Yang family. Her two cousins, Yang Gongren and Yang Shidao, were both prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty. How could Wu dare to offend the Yang family after the death of Wu Shihuo?

But who could have thought that in the tenth year of Zhenguan, the emperor actually took Wu Meiniang into the harem and made her a talented lady.

Now, the Wu brothers were in trouble and had to try to mend their relationship with the Yang family, but Yang ignored them and they still stayed in the Yang family in Chang'an.

In this way, the Wu brothers could only target Wu Shun and their third sister. Wu Shun had a cold appearance but a gentle personality, and their third sister married into the Guo family in Taiyuan, so the brothers and sisters restored their relationship, but it was just a restoration of the relationship, not too close.

But a few months ago, Yang's granddaughter became the Princess of Jin, and the Prince of Jin was in charge of Taiyuan, which forced the brothers to get close to the Wu Shun sisters again.

As for the Helan Yueshi incident, although his career was hindered, he was not directly implicated in the end.

They could do nothing to help with the Guo family's affairs.

Li Chengqian's mind calmly flowed through all the news about Wu Yuanshuang. He said calmly, "They were stopped in the snow last night and had to turn back. You can go find them yourself."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Wu Yuanshuang bowed his head.

"By the way, don't spread what happened to me in Longmen. I still have to pray for my father here for two days." After saying that, Li Chengqian nodded slightly, then rode up the mountain, escorted by more than a hundred Qianniu Guards.

Only after Li Chengqian and his group completely disappeared from the post station did Wu Yuanshuang breathe a sigh of relief and then went into the courtyard to find Wu Shun.

……

At sunset, a path had been cleared on the snow.

Li Chengqian and his group returned from Longmen. On the long street, the Jinwu Guards had already cleared the road.

Before Duanmen, Fang Xuanling and Qiu Xinggong received the news and hurried to greet them.

Also accompanying him were Luozhou Chief Clerk Xiao Jun and Luozhou Sima Zhao Zhongjian.

"Your Highness, we are honored to see you. Thank you for your hard work." Everyone bowed in unison.

Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Praying for the well-being of my father and the soldiers is what I should do. By the way, Prime Minister Fang, how are things going in Luoyang? I will be leaving for Chang'an the day after tomorrow."

"Your Highness, everything is ready." Fang Xuanling immediately bowed.

"Very good, thank you for your hard work." Li Chengqian nodded, then looked at Qiu Xinggong and said, "Duke of Tianshui, it's already November, and the end of the year is almost here. We need to make a lot of preparations for Luoyang."

Luoyang suddenly lost thousands of able-bodied men, and the impact will gradually spread in all aspects. If we cannot prepare in advance, there will be problems.

"I understand." Qiu Xinggong immediately bowed. Li Chengqian relaxed slightly, then looked at Fang Xuanling and said, "Prime Minister Fang, these past two days, thanks to the soldiers and guards at Yique Gate, I will allocate some money from the Eastern Palace and have someone buy some wine and meat in Luoyang City and send them over as a reward."

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling raised his eyebrows and bowed seriously.

Qiu Xinggong stood to one side and asked in confusion, "Your Highness, why don't you just allocate some wine and meat from the treasury?"

Li Chengqian smiled, looked at Qiu Xinggong and explained, "Your Excellency, why don't you just ask directly why I don't allocate some money to the soldiers in the army?"

"I dare not." Qiu Xinggong immediately lowered his head. It was taboo for the prince to reward soldiers with money.

Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Don't be nervous. The reason I don't allocate the money directly is that once the money reaches the army, the generals will first take a layer of it, and even less will fall into the hands of the soldiers. After exchanging it for wine and meat, it will naturally fall entirely on the soldiers."

After a brief pause, Li Chengqian said, "Of course, wine and meat can only make the soldiers happy for one night, and they are far less happy than money. But my ultimate goal is not to make the soldiers happier, but the people."

"This money will first fall into the hands of the people. They are naturally happy to have an income. The soldiers are less happy because they gave half of it to the people." Fang Xuanling explained, then bowed to Li Chengqian and said, "Your Highness's statecraft has become more and more perfect over the years."

Li Chengqian smiled and waved his hand, saying, "I am only learning from my father. Lord, you are no longer a general in the army, but the governor of Luozhou. There are many things that need to be adjusted."

By the end of his speech, Li Chengqian had become serious.

"Yes!" Qiu Xinggong smiled reluctantly. If you asked him to dispatch food and military supplies, he could still do it. But if you asked him to manage the local affairs in detail, it would be a bit difficult for him.

Seeing Qiu Xinggong's expression, Li Chengqian sighed softly and said, "Lord, governing a place is nothing more than governing the hearts of the people. Compared to the hearts of the army, the hearts of the people are softer and more fragile. When I was in the army before, I was 70% tough and 30% weak. But now, when governing the hearts of the people, 30% tough is too much. I need 10% tough and 90% weak."

"Yes!" Qiu Xinggong nodded slowly, he understood a little.

"I'll give you another idea." Li Chengqian turned and looked at Luoyang City behind him, saying, "When I returned to the city today, I saw many large manors with a lot of winter dates, winter peaches, and winter pears. These things are not uncommon for large families, but if we can sell them all in the city, even if we don't sell too much, just letting the people of Luoyang know that someone is selling them, and at a low price, will be enough to make them excited."

"Yes!" Qiu Xinggong bowed thoughtfully.

"Your Highness!" Xiao Jun, standing beside him, bowed and said, "But these fruits are probably quite valuable, and the common people won't be able to eat much of them."

Li Chengqian looked at his former Prince's Secretary with satisfaction and nodded, saying, "That's true, but sometimes, buying things doesn't require a high price. At this special moment, if anyone is willing to make a contribution to help the government stabilize the local people's hearts, please report your merits to the emperor and reward him when he returns from the Eastern Expedition."

"I'm afraid no one would object to this." Fang Xuanling nodded from the side and said with a smile, "In order to stabilize the people's hearts, Your Majesty is willing to accept these things."

"Yes!" Qiu Xinggong looked at Li Chengqian and Fang Xuanling with some doubt, as if there was something very obscure besides the words of the prince and Fang Xiang.

"Okay, everyone go back and rest, and I will return to the palace." Li Chengqian nodded calmly to everyone.

"Farewell, Your Highness!" Everyone bowed.

Li Chengqian turned around and returned to the palace with everyone from the Eastern Palace.

Fang Xuanling bowed to Qiu Xinggong and said, "Duke of Tianshui, I take my leave now."

"Goodbye, Duke!" Qiu Xinggong bowed and watched Fang Xuanling leave.

After Fang Xuanling completely disappeared, Qiu Xinggong turned to look at Xiao Jun and asked, "Chief Secretary, what the Crown Prince said, can we use some special means?"

Xiao Jun glanced around and whispered, "Those who can be persuaded with kind words naturally don't have to act recklessly, but some people really can't be persuaded with kind words, so they should use some means if necessary.

His Highness once said, "Don't always think about making the people suffer. Sometimes it's okay to make the powerful suffer."

Qiu Xinggong nodded slowly. He already understood how to be a local governor.

……

In the Chongjiao Hall, the lights were dim.

Li Chengqian sat on the main couch. Xu An bowed carefully and said, "Your Highness, the person has gone back."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Don't keep an eye on Wu Shun or Wu Yuanshuang anymore. Send someone back to the capital now to keep an eye on Wu Yuanqing."

"Yes!" Xu An bowed and accepted the order.

"Also, spread the news about the court's recruitment of scholars next year slowly, starting from the area around the Wu family." Li Chengqian tapped the table lightly.

"Here!"

"Also, tell the Wang family about the Taiyuan Guo family's situation and have them keep an eye on it." Li Chengqian looked up and said softly, "I think it won't be long before Zhinu will know about the Wu and Guo families' affairs."

"Yes!" Xu An's expression became serious. He knew that Prince Jin had been sending people to keep an eye on the prince.

"Let the Yun family move."

(End of this chapter)